Sympathetic scale and façade treatment demolished . This was the only space available without compromising the sports grounds .
The new build takes on the form of an enclosing L-shape which provides the traditional internal quadrangle that characterises the existing structures . Seen from above , the campus could be interpreted as a series of beads on a necklace . The string being the axial line of the ridge and the beads being the buildings with their focal points as quadrangles .
The space available provided an extremely tight footprint to work with , with the structures locking into the constrained area on all sides with less than a half-metre overall tolerance . The underlying geological formation of the ridge had challenged geotechnical and structural engineers before and the team were not let off easily by the complexity of these foundations .
Blasting and diamond cutting solid quartzite situated just below natural ground level on
Enclosure and spatial definition to the quadrangle
St John ' s 53